Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Linda Gilliam’s book, The Seven Steps to Help Boys Love School: Teaching to Their Passion for Less Frustration is a must read for educators and parents of children ages two through nine. She accurately analyzes and provides effective options for the pressing issue of how to effectively work with boys in the current school setting.

Ms. Gilliam provides a philosophy for readers that is researched based as well as meeting the criteria of common sense. Boys, young boys, need to be active. Young boys and girls are wired differently and while we agree children should have the same opportunities regardless of gender—current brain research shows boys have different needs as they are growing and developing. Every point that Ms. Gilliam suggests for making boys love school, works for girls too. The myriad of ideas she suggests throughout her book supports every one of her philosophical planks. A few points:
–Limited screen time
–Reading to children daily
–Individualizing learning to children’s interest
–Make recess mandatory

Ms. Gilliam spends some time developing responses to current questions about how we educate our young today including:
“Why are we still educating children the way we have done it for years?”
“Why do we ignore he current research around how children learn?”
“Why do we not work with the latest information about brain development and gender differences?”

Many traditional teaching methods are punitive and are not successful in the long term. The time word strategy of “one size fits all” is failing dramatically in meeting the needs of young boys. Research has proven this and yet we keep using failing methods—repeatedly. Ms.

This book shows a positive approach to teaching for all students! THE SEVEN E’S OF EXCELLENT EDUCATION is a tool that every classroom should have listed and displayed on the wall and referred to daily! I also believe in the importance of teaching writing in schools. With today’s technology students are getting away from writing long hand. As the book states, writing skills reinforces reading and communicating skills. The creative teacher can make writing lessons fun and exciting. As a former Kindergarten teacher I had my students make their own books. They were shared by the “author” and then placed in the reading corner for the whole class to enjoy whenever they wanted a book to read.
There are so many great ideas and approaches this book offers. It is a must for the new teacher as well as parents, administrators and educators with years of teaching experience. I highly recommend reading it. Sandra Henrichs /28 year Teacher in the CUSD. CA.

In this time of continual testing of students, it seems that there is no time for the joy of learning. Author Linda Gilliam brings in joy as she encourages teachers and parents alike in this book. “What if you discovered a program that addresses a successful way to reach most children by teaching ‘basic skills’ through whatever passion that child has at that time? By basic skills, we mean speaking, reading, writing, math and even science.” Linda has 7 “E’s”: excitement, enthusiasm, entertaining lessons, engaging lessons, exploration, evaluating progress, and encouragement. She speaks not only to teachers, but to parents on how to best help their child. This book is practical and motivating, great for new teachers and teachers with lots of experience. I’m glad I read it, and am ready to be a better teacher tomorrow!

The Seven Steps to Help Boys Love School, written by Linda Marie Gilliam is a very well written book that achieves its goal to point out how schools and society in general have been missing the ingredients to help boys be successful in the early years of school. The helpful suggestions that are made by the author are a gift to educators and parents alike and will contribute to the healthy educational growth of all students in early grades. Having been a second grade teacher I find this book a must read for all teachers who have a desire to make learning fun and exciting.
D. Campbell